9th Grade Reading Help

Although you've had many years of reading experience by the time you enter the 9th grade, you'll be reading more challenging texts in high school. Use the following reading strategies to help you become a stronger reader.

Reading Strategies for 9th Graders

Preview and Predict

One of the best ways to improve your reading ability is to be actively engaged whenever you do read. A pre-reading strategy that helps with this engagement is previewing and predicting. Before reading, inspect the reading material, including the pictures, headlines, chapter titles, captions and key vocabulary words provided by the author. After previewing, predict what the short story, article or novel is going to be about. This way, you'll be more prepared to read the text because you'll know what to expect.

Make Connections

Find ways to personally connect to the reading material. For instance, look for ways the information relates to you and ask questions. Your questions may include: Have I had similar experiences? Do I feel the same way or differently about the issues presented? In what ways do certain characters remind me of myself? Asking and answering questions like these help you stay connected to what you're reading, which can help you comprehend and even enjoy the experience.

Stop and Summarize

Every so often, stop and summarize what you've read so far. Like the strategies above, this strategy helps you stay engaged while reading. It also helps you check how well you've been following the story and comprehending what's going on. Furthermore, when you need to revisit a section from the material, you may be able to simply refer to your summaries instead of having to go back and find certain pages or sections.

Take Notes

In addition to summarizing, it also helps to take notes while you read. Taking notes allows you to be active while reading, which typically helps you concentrate better. As a 9th grader, you will be required to use evidence from the text to support your opinions; so, taking notes on important quotations can help you prepare for tests and essays. You may also have to compare texts to one another. As a result, it's especially important that you comprehend and remember what's happening in your current text so you can refer to it later on.

Reread

During the first read, you may not understand everything or catch the author's intended meaning of certain sections. However, reading the material again usually helps you understand it better and discover connotative meanings and important themes you may have overlooked the first time.

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